Exploring Google

Today in Intro to Media class we are going to talk about the ever-influential Google. These photos are from a mock drill featuring firefighters using Google Glass to help rescue victims of the fire. See video here.

Beginnings of Google

Sergey Brin and Larry Page founded the company when they were students at Stanford University

Began as a research project in 1996

Incorporated as a private company in 1998

Went public in 2004

Based in Mountain View, Calif., home to the so-called “Googleplex.”

Fortune magazine has rated Google the No. 1 place to work

Google is the misspelling of the word googol, the number 1 followed by 100 zeros

The folks at Google even have a sense of humor. Need proof? Search for anagram.

Note: Sources for this page include “What would Google do?” by Jeff Jarvis and “Googled: The End of the World As We Know It” by Ken Auletta.

Google sells itself

Among the fastest growing companies in the world

Google operates 70 offices in more than 40 countries

Didn’t need a marketing campaign

Only company as visible is probably Coca-Cola

Google’s goal: To change the world

Google, some experts say, has changed the fundamental architecture of society and industry

Google encroaches on every media industry

Google acts without asking for permission

Size and impact of Google

Number of employees: 42,162, not including 4,259 employees of Motorola, which Google acquired.

Google is the most visited site on the Internet (see list of Google products here).

Google sells billions of dollars in ads per year.

Google’s YouTube hosts two-thirds of all Web videos.

What kind of company is Google?

It started as a search engine, then quickly expanded its reach.

Internet

Software

Technology

Advertising

Media

Lately, the company has been investing in everything from hardware and home security to artificial intelligence.

What Google does

Google organizes an abundance of information and knowledge

Customers are in charge

The mass market is gone. It’s now a mass of niches

Google allows people to organize without having an organization

Build it and they will come

Google’s business model

Google gives away most of its services. That attracts a huge number of users. Google then sells – or lets you sell – ads to that audience